Sanchez wasn’t just visually striking—he came with a flamboyant past, too, which he wasted no time flaunting on his first day, starting with the unpacking of his belongings.
I hadn’t witnessed it myself since I wasn’t in the men’s barracks, but Karon later filled me in.
“This... isn’t this a black magic artifact?”
“Yes, it is.”
“What the hell? Are you a black magician? Why do you even have stuff like this?”
“I received it from someone I used to know.”
“What the hell is wrong with you?! Black magic is banned by the Imperial Family! And you brought black magic artifacts into the military?!”
“El, calm down. We need to report this to the platoon leader immediately.”
Sanchez had managed to sneak black magic artifacts into his luggage—a stunt so audacious it bordered on madness.
Of course, Winter, with his meticulous and perfectionist tendencies, was the one who discovered the artifacts.
Since black magic was strictly forbidden by the Imperial Family, the news sent the entire military into an uproar. Even the company commander, upon hearing about it, ordered stricter management of new recruits and confiscated all of the artifacts.
‘What a lunatic....’
Honestly, I couldn’t help but feel a bit curious. Black magic artifacts? That sounded so fantastical. I wondered what they looked like.
Part of me wanted to march up to Sanchez and demand an explanation about the artifacts, but I suppressed the urge, relying on the discipline I’d picked up in this world.
‘I’ll ask him later, once he’s settled into military life.’
Despite becoming a “special management” case for the seniors on his very first day, Sanchez showed no signs of mellowing out.
“This new recruit is... something else,” Ishina remarked, his gaze distant.
“So strong...” he added with a sigh.
It seemed everyone had the same reaction to Sanchez.
“Even his name is strong...” was how I’d reacted when I first heard his name.
“What did you do before enlisting?” someone asked him.
“I worked as a blacksmith’s apprentice. That’s why I’m good with hammers. I also learned swordsmanship from mercenaries,” Sanchez replied calmly.
“So strong...” Blair had tried to talk to him with his usual cocky tone but quickly shrank under Sanchez’s intimidating presence.
“Where are the fish bones?” Dream asked, looking bewildered as he glanced at Sanchez’s plate during a meal.
“I chewed and swallowed them,” Sanchez replied nonchalantly.
“Wow... so strong...” Dream muttered, dumbfounded.
Sanchez felt like the very embodiment of strength in human form.
But his strength was different from that of the male leads like Aquila or Winter. While they exuded a refined, disciplined power, Sanchez’s strength was raw and primal, like that of a battle-hardened veteran.
“Yeah, he must have had quite the life before enlisting...” I muttered, thinking of Sanchez’s robust physique.
“Well, of course,” Ishina said matter-of-factly. “He was a blacksmith and a mercenary. That’s all you need to know. His mercenary experience probably means he’s familiar with monsters and black magic, but his trouble with hierarchy is going to be a problem.”
Hearing that piqued my interest. Did being a mercenary mean you had to fight monsters?
“Does that mean Sanchez has experience fighting monsters?” I asked, blinking curiously.
“Oh, no, not necessarily,” Ishina clarified. “That’s the Border Defense Army’s job. If monsters ever made it to the villages, it’d mean we failed. Ha!”
“Ha, true. We’d probably all be dead by then,” I replied, laughing along with Ishina. Still, the thought left me a bit melancholic.
Damn, I wanted to desert so badly.
“What I mean is, mercenaries tend to be familiar with the concepts of monsters and black magic. They sometimes have ties to assassin guilds or intelligence guilds, which might include black magicians,” Ishina explained.
“Assassin guilds? Intelligence guilds?” I echoed, intrigued. Those words sounded so romance fantasy.
I used to daydream about scenarios where I’d approach an intelligence guild using a secret passphrase I’d read in the original novel. The guild master, intrigued by my extraordinary request, would take an interest in me, and we’d end up tangled in some thrilling drama.
But here? Forget romance-fantasy tropes. The male leads didn’t even bother living up to their titles anymore. Damn it.
Still, the idea that Sanchez might know something about black magicians was fascinating.
“Does that mean Sanchez received his black magic artifacts directly from a black magician?” I asked.
“Probably,” Ishina replied.
“Ah... And what’s the connection between black magicians and monsters?” I asked.
Since I didn’t know much about this world beyond what I’d read in the original novel, I often relied on people like Ishina to fill in the gaps. To his credit, he was always patient and thorough with his answers—hidden mastermind or not.
“Well,” Ishina began, “black magicians can use monsters as materials for their spells. Conversely, I’ve heard they can also create monsters, though I don’t know much about that myself.”
“Ah...” I nodded thoughtfully, my curiosity about Sanchez growing even stronger.
It seemed like black magic was a significant part of how this world operated. Learning more about it might help me better understand this world.
‘I’ll have to ask Sanchez about it once we get closer.’
The more I learned about Sanchez, the more questions I had for him. But honestly, there were no signs of us growing closer anytime soon.
Then Ishina said something completely unexpected.
“I thought one of the artifacts Sanchez brought might be helpful for Karon, but since we can’t even talk to Sanchez properly, it’s probably not going to happen.”
“Helpful for Karon? What do you mean?” I asked.
This chapter is updated by freēwēbnovel.com.
“One of the artifacts he brought was related to memory. Since Karon’s lost his, I thought it might be useful,” Ishina said casually, shrugging as if it weren’t a big deal.
“But we can’t even have a proper conversation with Sanchez right now. Even Jaiden and Milphy can’t stand up to him.”
Ishina continued talking, but I couldn’t focus on his words anymore.
Because now I couldn’t stop thinking about that memory-related artifact.
Karon, who had been standing nearby the whole time, didn’t react much, even as we talked about his lost memories. He just blinked his wide, vacant eyes.
‘Karon probably needs his memories back... but...’
Sanchez’s artifacts might be helpful to Karon, sure, but...
Could they help me recover memories of my previous life?
If I could retrieve the faint fragments of my past life, I might also be able to recall the original novel in greater detail. That thought stayed with me as I naturally continued my conversation with Ishina.
"Did Sanchez bully Milphy and Jaiden or something?" I asked.
"No, not exactly..."
According to Ishina, Sanchez’s bed was right next to Jaiden’s and Milphy’s. Apparently, during their first night, Sanchez had sprawled out, taking up an unreasonable amount of space. When Jaiden and Milphy asked him to shift over, Sanchez replied calmly, “I have a bad habit of punching people in my sleep.” In response, Jaiden and Milphy had immediately backed down with nervous laughter, squeezing themselves into the cramped space without further complaint.
"Seriously? Aren’t they seniors?" I muttered in disbelief.
Jaiden, who always acted cocky around me and even tormented Benny, couldn’t even stand up to Sanchez. Typical—strong against the weak, weak against the strong.
I was tempted to criticize them for their cowardice, but then I realized I wouldn’t be able to stand up to Sanchez either, so I just kept my mouth shut. Yeah, sometimes survival means knowing when to shut up.
"Do you think they’re overreacting?" Karon chimed in, his wide eyes blinking curiously.
"They’re just scared of him for no reason. They probably think everything he does is terrifying because they’re already on edge."
I glanced at Karon. Sure, coming from someone his size, that made sense. But for ordinary people, seeing someone like Sanchez would naturally make them cautious.
Still, Karon’s tone carried a faint hint of unease when he mentioned Sanchez.
"Karon, do you not like Sanchez?" I asked.
"It’s just... knowing he associated with a black magician before enlisting doesn’t sit well with me," Karon replied hesitantly.
"Oh? Why not?"
"Black magic... It just feels... wrong."
"Yeah, I can see that," I agreed. Black magic was an inherently ominous term, after all.
Ishina, however, spoke up with his usual calm demeanor. "Well, it’s not like Jaiden and Milphy are scared of him for no reason."
"What do you mean?" Karon and I asked in unison.
"Do you know what Sanchez said to Milphy when he asked him to pick up something he dropped?"
Ishina’s gaze turned thoughtful as he continued. "He said, ‘I don’t listen to people weaker than me.’"
"...Ah," I murmured, momentarily stunned.
Was that even a human way of thinking? It was such a raw, animalistic mindset.
What are we, zookeepers here? Damn...
Honestly, I began to doubt whether I could ever get close enough to Sanchez to ask him about the artifacts. Could we even reach the level of exchanging greetings? This world never ceased to amaze me with its variety of people, and the military seemed to be the place where they all gathered.
***
Today’s guard duty paired me with Winter again for the first time in a while.
"Winter, did you know?" I began, recalling what Ishina had told me earlier. "I heard black magicians use monsters as materials for their spells. Does that mean the monsters we hunt sometimes get leaked to them?"
The moment I mentioned black magicians, Winter’s already rigid expression hardened further.
"Black magic is strictly forbidden in the empire, so I don’t know much about it," he said curtly.
Of course. Winter wasn’t the type to care about anything the state had outlawed.
"But I’ve heard that when monsters cross the border and reach villages, black magicians sometimes hunt them down for materials."
"Ah..." I nodded. That made sense. Low-level monsters, like fourth-class ones, were so small and weak that villagers could kill them with frying pans.
There’s a reason the Adolph Empire is known as the strongest in the continent, I thought. This kind of thing was just everyday life here.
"Then, is it true that black magicians can create monsters?" I asked.
"Rather than deliberately creating monsters..." Winter frowned. "It’s more accurate to say monsters can accidentally emerge as a side effect of black magic."
As expected, Winter knew everything. While his explanation satisfied my curiosity, I could tell discussing forbidden black magic made him uncomfortable.
"Let’s stop talking about this," Winter said firmly. "Even showing interest in black magic is disloyal to the empire. And, for the twenty-fourth time, keep your eyes on the border during guard duty."
"Yes, sir..."
Winter’s unwavering loyalty to the empire never failed to amaze me. Meanwhile, I, with my grudges against the Adolph Empire, couldn’t help but feel intrigued by the black magicians. After all, the enemy of my enemy is my friend, right?
"But aren’t black magicians better for Arkons than the empire?" I asked, unable to suppress my question any longer.
Winter’s response was unexpectedly harsh. "You’re mistaken. Black magicians are not kind to heteros. They exploit them."
"What...?"
"Orphaned heteros without protectors are often bound by magic to serve black magicians. They’re used for menial tasks, as test subjects for experiments, or even for dissecting monster corpses. Sometimes, their organs are harvested, or they’re forced to handle human corpses for disposal."
"Why... why would they...?"
I already knew this country was far from kind to Arkons, but to hear that even black magicians, who were also oppressed, exploited them... It was beyond disheartening.
"Why would they use Arkons?" I asked, my voice trembling slightly.
"Because they’re physically superior, capable of handling dangerous tasks. And if they die, no one cares," Winter replied bluntly.
I felt my faint curiosity about black magicians vanish completely. Karon’s earlier remarks about them being ominous now made perfect sense. As expected of Male Lead #4, his instincts were sharp.
"Salvia, young heteros being exploited and killed by black magicians is, unfortunately, quite common," Winter said, his tone turning grave. "But why are you suddenly so interested in black magic?"
"Oh, it’s not that I’m interested in black magic...!" I blurted, frantically waving my hands. The last thing I needed was for this rule-abiding Winter to report me as a potential traitor to the empire.